By Thomas E. Mitchell, Jr.MCJ editor interviews more residents about what happened…and why…the day after the officer involved shooting of Sylville Smith and the unrest that followed

(Editor’s note: In the first installment of our “First Person” report on the day after the unrest in the Sherman Park neighborhood, we incorrectly identified Clarene Mitchell as the “Community/Public Relations director” for Wisconsin Jobs Now. Mitchell is the “Communications/Public Relations” director for the community-based organization. We apologize to Mrs. Mitchell for the error.)

Preface: On Sunday, August 14, the day after the police involved shooting of Sylville K. Smith that sparked rioting in the Sherman Park neighborhood and saw six businesses looted, burned and destroyed, including the BP gas station on the corner of Sherman and Burleigh, MCJ Editor Thomas Mitchell, Jr. and his wife Clarene went to the area to offer water, snacks and support to the residents.
It also gave Thomas Mitchell the opportunity to interview several residents about what happened and what needs to be done for the neighborhood, and the city’s Black community as a whole.
The following is the continuation of his interviews and observations of that day after the “riot”—a word many thought was inappropriate given the small area in which the “disturbance” (which many believe is more appropriate to describe what happened) occurred.
****
After thanking Martin for her time and comments, I notice a large group of adults, teenagers and younger children gathered on a side street between what’s left of the BP gas station and a Red’s Snapper Seafood restaurant that miraculously was untouched by the fire and smoke.
I approach two young men leaning against the wall of the Red’s Snapper talking to other individuals about what happened Saturday night and what might happen that evening.
After introducing myself and telling them I wouldn’t use their names in my story, both men begin talking. One of the men said he didn’t agree with the riot (or unrest…or disturbance as some call it) and the burning down of the businesses (especially the gas station), but what occurred “will get greater.”
I took his use of the word “greater” to mean there would be more and larger disturbances if nothing is done to focus attention, action and dollars on the Sherman Park neighborhood and the Black community in general.
“If we had more jobs, better health care…we don’t have it (because) their putting money in downtown, but not in the community,” said one of the two “brothas.”
“It’s more about frustration,” continued the other man who was taller than his friend and who grew up in the Sherman Park neighborhood. “The cops have been harassing us since we were kids.
“This is minor (what occurred Saturday night),” the first man interjected. “We could be downtown tearing their stuff up.”
“It’s a cry for attention…and a warning,” he continued. “What happened here is no different from other cities. When it’s us against the cops…it’s frustration.”
The taller man said he was speaking on behalf of the people who live in the neighborhood like him. “It’s my neighborhood. I’m out here cleaning up (after the night before), keeping my neighborhood clean and to instruct the youth.”
He took exception to the criticism from some observers who have said “some” Sherman Park residents were “burning down their own neighborhood.”
“Red’s Snapper and the pasty shop are Black-owned,” he notes, adding they and other Black owned establishment weren’t touched. “The Arabs and Koreans suck all the money out of the community.”
(Editor’s note: It was later revealed that one of the burned businesses—a beauty supply store—was Black owned, as reported by one of the local television news stations.)
Saying he won’t miss the gas station, the taller man stressed they didn’t burn down their neighborhood. “We burned down our “temptations” in the neighborhood: The liquor store, the hair store and the gas station.”
The man said he and his peers watched their parents “bust their butts” struggling and working to provide for them, only to have nothing at the end of their working days.
As a result, he added, the youth don’t see anything to gain doing things the way their parents did; it’s part of the frustration he noted earlier.
“There’s no hope over here. They (the youth) only know drugs, gangs, poverty and the police brutality of the Seventh District (police station).
“When you’re so frustrated and don’t know what to do, a person will blow their brains out ‘cause they don’t know what to do.”
“Jobs with low pay…work 40 hours and still have to decide if you’re going to pay rent or buy food!” the taller man continued.
As a result many youth and older residents will turn to the streets to make ends meet, only to wind up in jail or dead. “The youth don’t fear anything,” the tall brotha said. “These are real street n—– over here…this is a gang neighborhood. They’re not trying to hear about turning the other cheek.”
I thank both men for talking to me and proceed to simply take in the scene around me. There are young and old, male and female, children with their parents milling around talking to each other, trying to short out what happened the previous night and what to do next.
The brother and mother of Dontre Hamilton are in the crowd with other members of the organization ‘Coalition for Justice.’ They’re talking to youth and slightly older adults trying to make a connection with them and their shared pain and anger at what happened the night before.
I run into state Rep. David Bowen and one of his staffers. During a brief conversation, he says the police officers of the nearby Seventh District station are “disconnected from the reality of life in the Sherman Park neighborhood.
As we talk, an older Black woman is holding up her Bible and walking through the mass of people, encouraging them to get right with Jesus, to heed His holy word and be saved. Few, if anyone is paying any attention to her. As the tall brotha I interviewed earlier said, no one is trying to hear about “turning the other cheek.”
I talk to a few other people I know about what happened and what might happen that Sunday evening. There is mention of Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke calling Gov. Scott Walker and requesting he send in the state National Guard to assist the Milwaukee police and County Sheriff deputies.
Though the Guard is put on stand-by status, they are not used. The MPD and Sheriff’s department work in concert (much to the chagrin of the sheriff no doubt) in keeping things quiet and relatively peaceful, though there were numerous arrests made that Sunday evening.
But there is no more burning of businesses. No shots fired by either side. A curfew is put in place for the Sherman Park neighborhood starting at 10 p.m. and Sherman Park, starting at 6 p.m. Though the curfew for the neighborhood is lifted, the park curfew, as of this writing, is still in affect…compliments of the sheriff.
An older, angry Black man is exhorting the crowd to “get mad!” to not be afraid of the police watching over the remains of the gas station (actually, they were guarding the safe that was among the rubble. The gas station owner and his sons retrieved it on Monday, loading it in a van…with the help of a reporter and cameraman from one of the local television stations).
Said the angry elder: “It’s said they put (Native American) Indians on reservations ‘cause they didn’t get mad!”
The elder was also critical of individuals who gathered in a prayer circle to pray for peace and the neighborhood’s residents.
“Get up off your knees and start doing something,” he shouted in the direction of the prayer circle. “It makes no sense trying to be quiet and nice.”
I note a sizable contingence of White people in attendance. Some were there individually, others with their families. They talk with Black residents they seem to know about what happened. Some are with their children.
I introduce myself to a young White male (who I will identify only as “D.W.”) who is a member of a prayer ministry team for a community-based ministry located on 30th and Chambers.
D.W. said he’s been in the community doing outreach since 2012 trying to fulfill the spiritual and physical needs of the community.
He stressed he didn’t come with any agenda, but only to listen to what members of the community had to say. He had been invited by a friend in a Bible study group to the Sherman park area to see what was going on.
D.W. said his mother’s side of the family grew up in the Sherman Park area. For a while his parents lived in the area of 50th and Burleigh before his dad moved the family further northwest to Wauwatosa.
D.W. said he’s overheard Black people in the crowd mumbling that the White folks will go back to the suburbs later that evening. “But I’m here every week. I’m not afraid. This (outreach) is what I do as an individual.”
D.W. was cautious with his words, wanting to know what I thought of the incident that lead to Saturday night’s “unrest” and what was going on around us that moment.
He admitted there is fear in the White community and that a lot of people (Black and White I assume) want reconciliation.
When I questioned him further on his thoughts, he would only say it was wrong to judge an entire group (of people I assumed) over one individual.
(Perhaps he was referring to some White people’s prejudicial views of Black people; that they judge the behavior of many by the actions of the few.)
“The policemen didn’t know his motivation,” D.W. said.
I assume he was talking about Sylville Smith and his “motivation” to be in the situation he found himself in before being shot by a Milwaukee police officer (who is Black).
“Good thing about America is you’re innocent until proven guilty.”
Was D.W. talking about the officer when he said that, or Smith? I don’t know and didn’t ask. I simply thanked D.W. for his time and walked away.

Born and raised in Chicagos Southside neighborhood, he moved with his
family to Ann Arbor, Michigan. After graduating from Huron High School
there, he attended prestigious Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia on
a football scholarship, studied architecture, joined Omega Psi Phi
Fraternity, enjoyed an active college social life, graduated, then went
on to earn a five-year professional degree in architecture from Howard
University.

As his life progressed, he got his first professional job, married the
love of his life, had two children, and turned his twin passions
architecture and construction into a successful career.

The skyline of his adopted hometown of Atlanta is dotted with
award-winning structures built by his company, C.D. Moody Construction.
Since 2000, his company has been identified every year by Black
Enterprise magazine as one of Americas largest Black-owned businesses.

I planned on going to my grave with my secret of being sexually
abused by a male babysitter as a child, Moody reveals in his new book,
_Fighting Through the Fear My Journey of Healing from Childhood Sexual
Abuse_.

Finally, in 1992, Moody told his wife Karla. Soon thereafter, he had a
complete nervous breakdown and begin to suffer from post-traumatic
stress syndrome (PTSD) bouts of sudden panic that felt like a heart
attack; fear of crowds and going to unfamiliar places; extreme
nervousness and fatigue. It took almost a lifetime for him to break his
silence publicly.

In 2015, he decided to write a book about his struggle. Moodys
co-author, Charles W. Cherry II, is his fraternity brother and former
freshman-class roommate at Morehouse College.

In _Fighting Through the Fear_, readers accompany Moody on his journey
of healing while raising a family, building a thriving construction
business during Atlantas emergence on the international stage during
the 1996 Olympics and thereafter, growing in his religious faith, and
finding peace.

The picture on the cover of the book is one I took in 2015 after a
thunderstorm over the Gulf of Mexico. I came through a storm of
childhood trauma that has affected my entire life, but the sun still
shines and the waves calmed down. We are much stronger than we can
imagine, Moody explains. I want to help survivors to live their best
lives.

_Fighting Through the Fear_ is available at https://moodyspeaks.com. A
portion of the profits will be used to support organizations that help
survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Visit www.moodyspeaks.com [3] for
more information.

Oprah Winfrey is speaking out about the untimely deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown and other black men who were killed by police.

Oprah joined her castmates for the New York City premiere of the Martin Luther King Jr. inspired film, Selma.

“Even if we didn’t know about a Ferguson, or an Eric Garner or a Michael Brown … they were going on,” Oprah told theGrio.com. “The fact that they may have now become newsworthy or made national or international news doesn’t mean there haven’t been nameless Michael Browns or Eric Garners before.”

“My feeling is everything is always happening exactly as it should and on time. There’s no coincidence that this is happening now, but because it’s happening now, people are paying more attention.”

NDIANAPOLIS, IN – NOVEMBER 27: Customers grab shopping carts to hunt for early Black Friday deals Thanksgiving evening at a Best Buy on November 27, 2014 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Many retailers open the evening before the famous shopping day. (Photo by Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images)

America is a country where practically anything is possible with the right money behind you.

Black Americans’ spending power in this country is presently valued at approximately $1.1 trillion dollars annually. Yes trillion, with a “T”, per year.

In the wake of the grand jury’s decision not to indict Darren Wilson for the killing of Michael Brown, Jr., frustration, anger and grief abound. The failing of the system struck a different nerve this time. Another Black life, instantly devalued by the system of so-called justice in this country.

People are now struggling with the questions of “What can be done?” “How can we make them hear us?” Many are expressing their discontentment with rallies and marches, raising their fists and voices to the sky in an effort to be heard. What long-term plan could we enact to actually make a palpable change? Thoughts have turned to boycotts, the historic action of those that feel oppressed by a system greater than they. With Black Friday coming up, it seems as easy a target as any.

Milwaukee local, Talleah Bridges McMahon is excited to announce that the 6-hour television documentary series she has been working on called “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross,” hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., will premiere on PBS tonight, October 22nd. The series, which covers the arrival of the first known Africans to the election of Barack Obama, will continue to broadcast each Tuesday through November 26th.

Talleah co-produced the first two shows — “Episode 1: The Black Atlantic” airing October 22nd and “Episode 2: The Age of Slavery” airing October 29th. The series is scheduled to be on from 8 to 9 p.m. EST (7 to 8 p.m. CST), but check your local listings to confirm the time in your area.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School’s School Governance Council recently held its 19th African American Male Teach-In, the theme of which was, “It Takes A Village.” Black men from various occupations were on hand to encourage the male students at King to stay in school and be the best they can be. The teach-in symbolizes the men’s and community’s commitment to the collective educational and leadership development of the school’s youth. (photo by Yvonne Kemp)

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School’s School Governance Council recently held its 19th African American Male Teach-In, the theme of which was, “It Takes A Village.” Black men from various occupations were on hand to encourage the male students at King to stay in school and be the best they can be. The teach-in symbolizes the men’s and community’s commitment to the collective educational and leadership development of the school’s youth. (photo by Yvonne Kemp)

If Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive today, he would be happy with the progress America ha s made in race relations over the last 50 years – albeit there’s still more progress to be made – and the election of the first African-American President. Dr. King would not be happy however, that last year alone over 4 million people joined the ranks of the poor in this country and that the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen.

Martin Luther King, Jr. believed that it’s the duty of every human being to help other poor fellow human beings so that they can live dignified lives. It is highly likely that Dr. King would not be too happy with anti-poor policies being put forth in Washington today and in particular the view of the poor by today’s Republican Party. A party that seems to believe that becoming impoverished is more often than not driven by a lack of motivation to help oneself, which is made worse by government aid/entitlements. A party that argues that government aid will disincentivize the individual from going out to find work.

A party that doesn’t appear to take into consideration it’s often very difficult for many of the poor to find work because of their environmental circumstances that don’t always provide for healthy social networking or good schools and/or occupation opportunities.

It is likely that Dr. King would have attributed the growing levels of poverty to factors such as the poor economy, lack of affordable housing, lack of good schools particularly in the poor and impoverished communities of color, and the lack of available resources necessary for teaching and developing basic skills required to apply for employment.

He would point to the corporate corruption and ethical misconduct that often takes advantage of the poor, uninformed, and unsuspecting. He would argue the poor deserve public aid to assist them as they move forward to break free of the social and educational boundaries of poverty.

Dr. King would have agreed that self-reliance is important but that humanitarianism, tolerance, equal rights for all are principles that are just as important.

Dr. King believed that it is the right thing to do to help all individuals, black or white, who are trying to survive with hopes of one day living the American dream.

Indeed, he believed that to help the poor and not leave them behind would make more sense for a more, inclusive, health ier and more productive society.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s leadership of the modern American Civil Rights Movement, from December, 1955 until April 4, 1968, African Americans achieved more genuine progress toward racial equality in America than the previous 350 years had produced. Dr. King is widely regarded as America’s preeminent advocate of nonviolence and one of the greatest nonviolent leaders in world history.

Drawing inspiration from both his Christian faith and the peaceful teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. King led a nonviolent movement in the late 1950’s and ‘60s to achieve legal equality for African-Americans in the United States. While others were advocating for freedom by “any means necessary,” including violence, Martin Luther King, Jr. used the power of words and acts of nonviolent resistance, such as protests, grassroots organizing, and civil disobedience to achieve seemingly- impossible goals. He went on to lead similar campaigns against poverty and international conflict, always maintaining fidelity to his principles that men and women everywhere, regardless of color or creed, are equal members of the human family.

Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, Nobel Peace Prize lecture and “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” are among the most revered orations and writings in the English language. His accomplishments are now taught to American children of all races, and his teachings are studied by scholars and students worldwide.

He is the only non-president to have a national holiday dedicated in his honor, and is the only nonpresident memorialized on the Great Mall in the nation’s capitol. He is memorialized in hundreds of statues, parks, streets, squares, churches and other public facilities around the world as a leader whose teachings are increasingly-relevant to the progress of humankind.

Some of Dr. King’s most important achievements include: • In 1955, he was recruited to serve as spokesman for the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which was a campaign by the African-American population of Montgomery, Alabama to force integration of the city’s bus lines. After 381 days of nearly universal participation by citizens of the black community, many of whom had to walk miles to work each day as a result, the U.S.

Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in transportation was unconstitutional.

• In 1957, Dr. King was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), an organization designed to provide new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement. He would serve as head of the SCLC until his assassination in 1968, a period during which he would emerge as the most important social leader of the modern American civil rights movement.

• In 1963, he led a coalition of numerous civil rights groups in a nonviolent campaign aimed at Birmingham, Alabama, which at the time was described as the “most segregated city in America.” The subsequent brutality of the city’s police, illustrated most vividly by television images of young blacks being assaulted by dogs and water hoses, led to a national outrage resulting in a push for unprecedented civil rights legislation. It was during this campaign that Dr. King drafted the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” the manifesto of Dr. King’s philosophy and tactics, which is today required-reading in universities worldwide.

•Later in 1963, Dr. King was one of the driving forces behind the March for Jobs and Freedom, more commonly known as the “March on Washington,” which drew over a quarter-million people to the national mall. It was at this march that Dr. King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, which cemented his status as a social change leader and helped inspire the nation to act on civil rights. Dr. King was later named Time magazine’s “Man of the Year.”

•In 1964, at 35 years old, Martin Luther King, Jr. became the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize. His acceptance speech in Oslo is thought by many to be among the most powerful remarks ever delivered at the event, climaxing at one point with the oft-quoted phrase “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.”

•Also in 1964, partly due to the March on Washington, Congress passed the landmark Civil Rights Act, essentially eliminating legalized racial segregation in the United States. The legislation made it illegal to discriminate against blacks or other minorities in hiring, public accommodations, education or transportation, areas which at the time were still very segregated in many places.

•The next year, 1965, Congress went on to pass the Voting Rights Act, which was an equally-important set of laws that eliminated the remaining barriers to voting for African-Americans, who in some locales had been almost completely disenfranchised. This legislation resulted directly from the Selma to Montgomery, AL March for Voting Rights lead by Dr. King.

• Between 1965 and 1968, Dr. King shifted his focus toward economic justice – which he highlighted by leading several campaigns in Chicago, Illinois – and international peace – which he championed by speaking out strongly against the Vietnam War. His work in these years culminated in the “Poor Peoples Campaign,” which was a broad effort to assemble a multiracial coalition of impoverished Americans who would advocate for economic change.

•Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s less than thirteen years of nonviolent leadership ended abruptly and tragically on April 4th, 1968, when he was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. King’s body was returned to his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, where his funeral ceremony was attended by high-level leaders of all races and political stripes. Later in 1968, Dr. King’s wife, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, officially “Discrimination is a hellhound benefits of parental choice in cities around the country. “Milwaukee demonstrates to America that when students, parents, teachers and community leaders work together and put the interests of children first, anything is possible,” said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. “Our whistle-stop event will celebrate effective choices from all sectors of education: traditional public schools, public charter schools, magnet schools, private schools, virtual academies and homeschooling.”

National School Choice Week planned the event in cooperation with GreatSchools, the Black Alliance For Educational Options, Democrats For Education Reform, Hispanics For School Choice, Milwaukee Charter School Advocates, Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, Milwaukee Public Schools, School Choice Wisconsin, Schools That Can, the Wisconsin Charter Schools Association, K12, and the Association of American Educators.

Have you ever wondered what America would be like today had not Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X been assassinated?

Which philosophy would have taken root during the turbulent 1970s? Would our battle for equal rights and justice taken a different course?

Would either of those historic figures have catapulted the civil rights movement to the international stage, expanding its scope to include oppressed people from throughout the Diaspora?

“From a historical viewpoint (this is, after all, Black History Month), it could be beneficial and enlightening to contrast the two Black leaders, to study anew their philosophies and the possible paths Black America would have taken had they lived. To do so, however, requires that we view the two fallen leaders as they really were, and not how society and the media have recast and sanitized them over the years.”

Or would Malcolm’s call for equality by any means necessary ignite a civil and race war.

It’s an interesting—albeit purely subjective– hypothesis.

Who knows, maybe Dr. King would have gone from throwing rocks at the castle wall and decided to run for political office. He could have ended up being a congressman or senator and used the political stage to advance his call for systemic change.

Equally interesting, he probably would have run as a Republican, and the political tables would have been turned forever had Black people continued to embrace that party. (For those who don’t know, many of the Black leaders of King’s era were Republicans. In the 1960s, it was Southern Democrats who blocked civil rights legislation and maintained the racist status quo of American apartheid.)

Maybe King would have called for the creation of an independent political party, sparking a political movement that would have shaken the foundation of American politics.

On the other hand, Malcolm’s path would not have intersected with the political arena. Maybe he would have started a religious coalition to press for change, or a Back to Africa movement in the mode of Marcus Garvey. I could see him heading an international sociocultural organization that would link oppressed people from throughout the Diaspora.

Strange isn’t it, how events change the course of history. Had you not taken some seemingly insignificant action years ago, how would your life have changed?

Now think more globally.

King and Malcolm’s era marked a shifting of political and cultural allegiances for Black Americans, just as their assassinations stagnated and eventually altered the course of the civil rights movement. Taking advantage of the void in Black leadership, some special interest partners became sponsors of the movement, empowering and further entrenching the Negrocracy and a permanent culture of poverty that has stagnated Black empowerment.

From a historical viewpoint (this is, after all, Black History Month), it could be beneficial and enlightening to contrast the two Black leaders, to study anew their philosophies and the possible paths Black America would have taken had they lived.

To do so, however, requires that we view the two fallen leaders as they really were, and not how society and the media have recast and sanitized them over the years.

Dr. King has been reborn by the general media to fit an image that America believes will defuse his sense of urgency and evolving ideology prior to his death. That’s why you rarely hear mention of his ‘Letters from the Birmingham Jail,’ and instead are crammed full of his ‘I’ve Been to the Mountain Top’ speech.

Teachers fill Black children’s heads full of visions of King’s peaceful civil rights demonstrations, but rarely talk of how he challenged the very essence of Christianity and how it was misinterpreted and corrupted to justify American expansionism, slavery and sustaining of bigotry.

Nor are there discussions of a shift in his methodology just prior to his murder to expand his vision to include the capitalistic system and worldwide oppression of people of color.

King began to think more globally in the months leading up to his death. He began to speak of American foreign policies and a system of worldwide apartheid and economic exploitation. He saw the war in Vietnam for what it really was—as a piece of the puzzle. The fact that Black soldiers were forced to fight and bleed in Vietnam only to return to America and be treated as second-class citizens was the boldest of dichotomies.

But King was a realist who understood that Black America didn’t have the numbers or firepower to take on the status quo through threat. His strategy was rooted in his non-violent protest methodology along with a legal redress element. Equally important, King saw himself through a Christian lens and hoped to prick the consciousness of those who supposedly shared his faith to follow basic Christian tenets. And let’s not forget King understood the power of the media, and how shaping opinions through that media could be as influential as a .38 caliber bullet.

There are many who believe King was murdered because he began making references to the men in the board room who orchestrated a global scheme, of which racism was but a tool. Through King’s prism it was essential to expand the campaign for justice from being about Black and White, to an economic and cultural campaign between the haves and have nots.

King was destined for a world stage, conceivably one where he would eventually share space with Malik El Shabazz, aka Malcolm X.

While White historians and the media focus superficially on what distinguished Malcolm from Martin–Malcolm did not believe tigers could, or would, change their stripes and he strongly endorsed the human right of self defense and determination–there was much more that bound them than separated them.

Like Martin, the media has sanitized Malcolm over the years, and much for the same reason.

The Malcolm I remember was one of White America’s most hated Black men. He was Nate Turner in a business suit.

He called racists ‘devils’ and he denounced integration as a fruitless adventure.

He was a field slave while Martin was a house Negro (and I don’t mean that offensively). Malcolm saw as much fault in the failing of the American Negrocracy as he did with White America.

Unlike King, Malcolm was also heavily into African culture, and saw the unity of Africans throughout the Diaspora as a key to the door of Black empowerment.

He frequently talked of the common thread that ran through battles for civil rights in America, with our brother’s fight to end colonialism in dozens of African nations.

As such he also saw the necessity of expanding the fight for human rights to a world stage, as illuminated by his later life efforts to take our case before the Untied Nations.

I never met Martin or Malcolm, but I had opportunities to sit down and talk with his widow, Betty Shabazz, who enlightened me on Malcolm’s evolution. I learned from those conversations that Malcolm and Martin were on the same track, albeit on different trains.

I often reference my conversations with Mrs. Betty Shabazz when I ponder how and why the American media reinvented him years after his death.

The history page that described Malcolm X as a militant race baiter, whose most recalled photograph showed him armed with a .30 caliber rifle peering through a window curtain, was replaced with a smiling Black man extending the hand of brotherhood.

It would be overly simplistic to suggest Denzel Washington’s portrayal of Malcolm in Spike Lee’s film ‘humanized’ the Black leader. Obviously, there is more to it than that.

That Malcolm has been recast in American history books is no doubt part of a master plan to rewrite—if not dilute– Black history, to discourage the philosophy of Black Nationalism, which was the podium on which Malcolm stood.

What would have happened if Malcolm had lived longer to ingrain his call for Black Nationalism in more Black Americans? What would our community be like today if we prioritized support for each other, spiritually, economically and culturally?

Imagine a Black community where we treated each other like brothers and sisters, brought goods and services from each other, and protected each other from predators and criminals?

Those are the fundamental tenets of Black Nationalism and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out how it would alter the status quo.

And if we included cultural pride, Africentricism to that equation, where would we be today?

While King saw integration as a key, Malcolm believed it was more important to stand as equals from a position of strength. He sought respect, not acceptance.

Believe it or not, both Martin and Malcolm had enemies in the Black community. There were those who thought Martin was rocking the boat, and feared Malcolm’s militancy and call for Black pride could bring questions upon their status and lifestyles.

I have little doubt that both Martin and Malcolm were destined for greatness, and that the paths they navigated would have eventually taken them to the same place.

I also assume the civil rights movement would not have been hijacked had either of them lived. Nor would we today be looking at so many dysfunctional families, missed educational opportunities and the permanence of a culture of poverty.

Of course I could be wrong. But it’s appropriate to discuss those possibilities in these final days of Black History Month.

In a nutshell, I think it would benefit our community to fantasize, to look at where we are and where we could have been if two of the most important figures in Black History had not been assassinated.

It would also benefit us to explore why they were assassinated and how their footprints in the sand changed the course of the mighty ocean.